Contraceptive hood

ABSTRACT

A male contraceptive hood which is adhesively secured to the penis, the hood being initially rolled up and the interior of the hood being free of adhesive until it is unrolled. The hood has a thin sheath which serves as the contraceptive device and an outer cylindrical member which is initially rolled together with the thin sheath. The outer cylindrical member has an adhesive on a portion of its outer surface, separated from the outer surface by a release agent, the adhesive being transferred to the inner surface of the sheath as the hood is unrolled onto a penis. The outer member can then be removed leaving only the thin inner sheath on the penis. A projecting portion is provided on the outer member for grasping the outer member to remove it. 
     In a preferred form, a lubricant is disposed between the sheath and the inner surface of the outer cylindrical member. This lubricant remains on the outer surface of the sheath to facilitate removal of the outer member and also to aid in intercourse. 
     The contraceptive hood may be either relatively short so as to extend only slightly beyond the head of the penis, or sufficiently long to extend over substantially the entire length of the penile shaft.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/006,986, filed Jan.16, 1987, now U.S. Pat. No. which is a continuation of application Ser.No. 06/715,608, filed Mar. 25, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,790, whichis a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 577,602, filed Feb.10, 1984, now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation-in-part ofearlier application Ser. No. 475,852, filed Mar. 6, 1983, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to male contraceptive hoods which areadhesively secured to the penis, the hood being initially rolled up withan outer thicker member, and the interior of the hood being free ofadhesive until it is unrolled.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The conventional contraceptive condom is designed to cover not only thepenile head but the entire penile shaft. It is usually used initially ina rolled up condition and is unrolled to extend for substantially thefull length of the penile shaft. It is retained in position largely byfriction between the inner wall of the condom and the penis. Anobjection to condoms of this type is that they tend to slip off thepenis after ejaculation has occurred and the penis tends to assume aflaccid condition. This may result in semen accidentally entering thevaginal passage.

Recognizing the drawback of the conventional condom, various attemptshave been made to provide a contraceptive hood which is adhesivelysecured to the penis. The early United States Woodruff patent, U.S. Pat.No. 822,092, for example, shows a short contraceptive hood in whichthere is adhesive applied to the interior. It is obviously verydifficult to apply such a contraceptive hood when adhesive is already inplace. Furthermore, the arrangement of the Woodruff patent has thedrawback that it provides a long extending nipple which would interferewith the sexual act. The United States Patents to Kopelowicz, U.S. Pat.No. 3,951,141; Wayne, U.S. Pat. No. 2,448,938; and Czirely, U.S. Pat.No. 3,677,225 all show arrangements in which there is an adhesive over aportion of the interior of a short contraceptive hood with a releasestrip of some kind which is stripped off in connection with applying thecontraceptive hood to the penis. The arrangements of these patents allhave the drawback, however, a separate release strip is necessary andthat the adhesive is not always located where it is most effective. TheOrmo U.S. Pat. No. 2,839,060 shows an arrangement in which adhesive isapplied on the inner surface of an inner sheath. There is also a ridgethat acts as a sealing device. The device can be relatively complicatedto apply partly due to the continual presence of the adhesive on theinner surface. The Warner U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,700 shows a contraceptivedevice in which there are bands which are used for overlappingencirclement of the penis behind the tip, these overlapping bands beingcoated on the inside with adhesive. Such an arrangement provides anadhesive over only a very limited area of the contraceptive hood andfurther provides a very irregular surface due to the space between thestrap and the main portion of the hood and also due to a thickenedportion resulting from the overlapping portions of the straps. The WelshU.S. Pat. No. 2,389,831 shows a protective covering for a member of thebody, such as finger or toe. Initially, there is adhesive on an outersurface. This is covered by a protective tape which must be removed. Inorder to bring the adhesive into the inner surface, the entire unit isturned inside out. This would be very difficult to manipulate as acontraceptive device.

In our prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,910, we disclosed an arrangement inconnection with a condom catheter for transferring adhesive from theouter surface of the catheter to the inner surface as it is rolled andunrolled. This arrangement, if applied to a contraceptive hood, wouldnot be satisfactory for several reasons. In the first place, it employsa release layer which is left on the outer surface of the sheath whenunrolled. While this is entirely satisfactory in connection with acatheter, it would be unsatisfactory in connection with a condom becauseof the fact that the release layer would be present on the outer surfaceduring intercourse and would tend to rub off. Furthermore, it becomesvery difficult to use an arrangement such as this where a relativelyshort contraceptive hood is being used. These are customarily rolled upprior to being applied to the penis, and in the case of a relativelyshort contraceptive hood, which is always of relatively thin material,the roll becomes so small in size as to make it difficult to unroll.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is concerned with a contraceptive hood of the typein which there is a second outer member, on the outer surface of whichthere is an adhesive, release agent so that when the inner and outermembers are rolled together the adhesive adheres only to the innersurface of the sheath. The inner and outer members are rolled uptogether with the adhesive adherring to the inner surface of the thininner cylindrical member as the unit is unrolled.

The hood may be relatively short so as to cover only the head of thepenis or may be sufficiently long to cover the entire penile shaft.

The outer thick portion is removed after the contraceptive hood is inplace. This can be readily accomplished since the adhesive has beentransferred to the inner surface of the inner thin portion. The releaseagent is still on the thick portion and is removed when the thickportion is removed. The outer thick portion may be provided with aprojecting portion which may be grasped to pull it loose from the innerthin portion. To facilitate withdrawal of the outer portion, the outerthick portion is provided with a small aperture to permit air to enterbetween the inner thin member and the outer thick member as the latteris withdrawn so as to prevent a vacuum being formed in the outer portionis withdrawn. To further facilitate withdrawal of the outer portion, alubricant is applied between the inner and outer portions. Thislubricant not only facilitates withdrawal of the outer portion but alsoremains on the outer surface of the thin inner sheath to facilitate itsuse during intercourse. This lubricant is preferably applied to theinner surface of the outer member and is transferred to the outersurface of the thin inner member when the two portions are rolledtogether.

The adhesive layer is preferably applied over that portion of the lengthof the hood adjacent the open end which is engaged by the inner surfaceof the cylindrical member when the cylindrical member is in rolled upcondition.

Various other objects and features of the invention will be apparentfrom a consideration of the accompanying specification, claims anddrawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of our contraceptive hood priorto the same being applied to a penis;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the contraceptive hood, the section beingtaken along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of the thin inner member of the contraceptive hood ofFIGS. 1 and 2 placed over a mandrel;

FIG. 4 is a view showing the thick outer portion of the cylindricalmember which has been applied to the thin inner portion while still onthe mandrel;

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4, showing a release layer and an adhesivelayer which have been applied to the outer surface of the thicker outerportion;

FIG. 6 is a view on a highly enlarged scale of a portion of thecontraceptive hood of FIGS. 1 and 2 which is shown as being rolled up toshow the various layers of the hood;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the hood being unrolledto show the transfer of adhesive from the outer surface of the outermember to the inner surface of the inner member:

FIG. 8 is a view showing the contraceptive hood of FIGS. 1 and 2 beingapplied to the tip of a penis, the device still being partially rolledup;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but with the contraceptive hoodunrolled on the tip of a penis;

FIG. 10 is a view showing the hood after the outer cylindrical memberhas been removed;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a modification of the outer member asfar as means for removing the outer cylindrical member is concerned;

FIG. 12 is a view of a further modification of our invention in whichthere is a two-part hood as in FIGS. 1-10, but in which the condom hoodcovers substantially the entire penile shaft, the device being shown inFIG. 12 as being initially applied to the penis;

FIG. 13 is a view of the same hood with the outer member completelyunrolled and the inner member unrolled to the base of the penis;

FIG. 14 is a view in which the outer member has been pulled away fromthe inner member;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view on a large scale showing a portion of thecontraceptive hood of FIGS. 16-17 being rolled up and showing thevarious layers of the hood; and

FIGS. 16 through 19 are views, similar to FIGS. 12 through 15, of afurther modification of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring specifically to FIGS. 1 and 2, the two-piece hood is generallydesignated by the reference numeral 50. There is an outer portion 51 andan inner portion 52 which is made of very thin resilient material havinga thickness of between 0.002 and 0.004 inches. It has a bowl portion 53and a major sheath portion 54.

The outer portion 51 has a conical portion 55 which terminates in aprojecting tubular portion 56. This projecting portion 56, as will bepointed out later, can take various forms so long as it provides a meansfor grasping the outer member 51 when it is desired to remove it, aswill be explained later.

The outer member 51 is made of relatively thick material which may befrom 0.015 to 0.025 inches in thickness and has a body portion 57 whichis rolled with the sheath portion 54 to form a roll 58.

As will be explained in more detail later, the outer portion of thecylindrical member 51 is coated with a release layer and an adhesive sothat adhesive is transferred in the roll 58 to the inner surface ofmember 52. After the condom hood is unrolled, the outer member 51 can bepulled loose by grasping the projection 56. It can then be discarded,leaving only the inner member 52 on the penis. The release agent remainson the outer member 51.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are directed to a method of forming the two part condomhood of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring first to FIG. 3, it will be noted that the inner member 52 hasbeen placed upon a mandrel 59 which has a curved upper end correspondingto the curvature of the dome shape portion 53 of the inner member 52.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the outer member 51 of the hood has been placedover the inner member 52, the lower ends of both the outer portion 51and the inner portion 52 terminating at the same point on the mandrel59.

In FIG. 5, there has been applied to the outer surface of the bodyportion 57 of the outer member 51 an adhesive release layer 61, whichmay, for example, be any conventional silicone release agent, and alayer of pressure sensitive adhesive 60.

The unit is now rolled up by rolling up the various layers togetherstarting at the lower end. A portion of the sheath in a highly enlargedscale is shown in FIG. 6 with the layers in the position they assume asthe sheath is rolled up. It will be noted that the release layer 61 andadhesive layer 60 are still on the body portion 57 of the outer member51. The various layers are rolled together to form a roll 58 and whenthe rolling is completed, the device will appear as shown in FIGS. 1 and2.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the elements as thesheath is being unrolled in its application to a penis. It will be notedthat the adhesive layer 60 is now on the inner surface of the sheath 54of the inner member 52. This has taken place because of the fact thatthe adhesive layer 60 comes adjacent the inner surface of sheath 54 whenthe device is in the rolled up position of FIGS. 2 and 7. Because of therelease layer 61, the adhesive adheres to the inner surface of thesheath 54 rather than to the outer surface of the outer member 57. Thus,the adhesive is transferred from the outer surface of the outer memberto the inner surface of the sheath.

In FIGS. 8 through 10, we have shown the method by which the condom hoodof FIGS. 1 and 2 is placed on the penis. As shown in FIG. 8, the innerand outer sheath, still rolled together in a roll 58, are placed overthe tip 71 of the penis 70.

In FIG. 9, we have shown the condom hood as having been unrolled. Itwill be noted that the unrolled sheath extends over only a short portionof the penile shaft beyond the shaft to have the major portion of thepenile shaft bare to increase the sensitivity of the penis during theintercourse. Because of the fact that the adhesive has been transferredfrom the outer surface of member 51 to the inner surface of the member52, it is possible to grasp the projecting portion 56 of the outermember 51 and pull it loose. It can now be pulled off and discarded.Since the release agent has remained on the outer surface of the outermember, it is withdrawn along with the outer member. After the outermember 51 has been pulled off, the device assumes the appearance of FIG.10. It will be noted that the adhesive 60 extends over a band beginningat the open end of the inner hood member 52 to a point overlapping thehead of the penis. This will be effective to retain the hood in placeeven though it extends over only the outer portion of the penis.

In FIG. 11, I have shown a slight modification of the species of FIGS. 1through 10. For purposes of ready comparison, similar referencecharacters have been used for corresponding elements. The onlydifference between the arrangement of FIG. 11 and that of FIGS. 1through 10 is that instead of there being a tubular projection 56, thereis a nipple type of projection 75. This nipple type of projection has anaperture 76 through it. The purpose of the aperture 76 is to provide ameans for admitting air between the inner and outer members as the outermember 51 is withdrawn. Otherwise, there would be a tendency for asuction to be created. In the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 through 9,this is provided for because the projection 56 is tubular and the aircan be freely admitted between the inner and outer members. Where,however, a nipple 75 is employed for grasping the outer member 51 whenit is desired to remove it, it is desirable to have a passage such asopening 76 to admit the air. While the device can function without sucha passage, it does facilitate the removal of the outer member 51.

MODIFICATION OF FIGS. 12-14

The modification of FIGS. 12-14 is the same as that of FIGS. 1-11,except for the fact that the contraceptive hood is longer to extend overthe full length of the penile shaft. While the outer member is longerthan that of FIGS. 1-11, it is shorter than the inner member so that theouter member will be fully unrolled before the inner member reaches thebase of the penile shaft.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, the outer member is indicated by thereference numeral 81 and the inner member is indicated by the referencenumeral 82. Initially, as shown in FIG. 15, the outer member has a layerof adhesive 85 with a release layer 84 between the adhesive and theouter surface of the outer member 81. As best shown in FIG. 13, in whichthe members have been unrolled, the outer member 81 in this modificationis substantially shorter than the inner member 82. As in the previousspecies, it is thicker than the inner member. The relative thicknessesof the inner and outer members are substantially the same as in thespecies of FIGS. 1-11. The outer member, similar to member 51, has aconical outer portion S5 and an extending tubular portion 56 which actsas a means for withdrawal of the outer member 81 when it is in theunrolled condition shown in FIG. 13. Initially, the inner and outermembers are rolled together, as in the preceding species, to form a roll88. In FIG. 15, there is a sectional view of the roll 88 with themembers being shown in the process of being rolled up. It will be notedthat the inner end of the outer member 81 does not extend as far intothe roll as the outer member 82.

In use, the contraceptive hood is applied to the tip of the penis in thesame manner as in the other species. This is shown in FIG. 12. Thecontraceptive hood is then unrolled. Initially, the outer member 81 willbe completely unrolled. The user then continues to unroll the innermember 82, normally leaving a small roll 89 at the base of the penis.

In the process of rolling and unrolling, the adhesive 85 is transferredfrom the outer surface of the outer member 81 to the inner surface ofmember 82 just as in the species of FIGS. 1-11. The primary difference,however, is that the layer of adhesive 90, shown in the broken awayportion of FIG. 14, extends much further than the layer of adhesive inthe species of FIGS. 1-11, and as shown in FIG. 10. In one particularinstance, an adhesive layer of one and one-half inches was used. Thisstarted just back of the tip of the penis. In a typical case, the outermember 81 was about four inches long.

It will be obvious that the operation, except for the difference inlength of the inner and outer members, is basically the same as in thespecies of FIGS. 1-11. When the unit has been unrolled to the positionshown in FIG. 13, the adhesive originally on the outer surface of member81 has been transferred to the inner surface of the inner member 82. Allthat remains on the outer member is some of the adhesive releasematerial. This is drawn off with the outer member. Thus, the outside ofthe inner sheath S1 is free of any release material or adhesive.

Because of the presence of the adhesive 90 over a substantial portion ofthe sheath, the sheath is held in place even after ejaculation hasoccurred. In this way, the contraceptive hood of this invention is muchsafer to use than the conventional type of hood which tends to becomeloose on the penis after ejaculation has occurred.

MODIFICATION OF FIGS. 16 THROUGH 19

The modification of FIGS. 16 through 19 is very similar to that of FIGS.12 through 15, with one very important exception. A lubricant such as amedical silicone lubricant is applied to the interior of the outermember 81 prior to the outer member and the inner sheath being rolledtogether. This lubricant is transferred, in the rolled up condition, tothe outer wall of the inner sheath 82. Referring to FIG. 19, the layerof lubricant is indicated by reference numeral 92. It will be noted thatthis lubricating layer 92 is between the outer sheath 81 and the innersheath S2. When in the rolled up condition shown in FIG. 19, thelubricant will obviously adhere to the outer surface of the inner sheath82. The lubricant has two functions. In the first place, it makes itvery easy to withdraw the outer member 81, since the entire area of theinner sheath 82 over which the outer member extends is lubricated. Inthe second place, the layer of lubricant 92 which extends, after theouter member has been removed, over the area covered by the outer member81, as shown in FIG. 1, acts as a lubricant for intercourse. In otherwords, the condom becomes a prelubricated condom.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it will be seen that we have provided a contraceptivehood which is initially rolled with an outer cylinder member, therebeing a pressure sensitive adhesive layer between the hood and the outermember. As the hood is unrolled onto the penis, the adhesive surfaceadheres only to an inner surface of the contraceptive hood to cause thehood to firmly adhere to the penis. After the contraceptive hood hasbeen unrolled onto the penis, the outer member is then withdrawn. Thewithdrawal may be facilitated by providing a lubricating layer betweenthe inner and outer cylindrical members. This lubricating layer remainson the inner member after the outer member has been withdrawn to providelubrication during intercourse.

What is claimed is:
 1. A contraceptive hood to be adhesively applied toan erect penis, said contraceptive hood including:a flexible cylindricalmember generally conformable to the head of the penis having a closedend and an open end; said cylindrical member being rolled outwardly uponitself onto the penis from said open end; and an adhesive layer and anadhesive release layer disposed between the rolls and the adhesiverelease layer disposed between said adhesive layer and the outer surfaceof said cylindrical member so that upon said member being unrolled ontothe head of an erect penis, the adhesive layer releases from theadhesive release layer due to the unrolling of the cylindrical memberand adheres to the inner surface of said cylindrical member to cause thecylindrical ember to adhere to the erect penis.
 2. The contraceptivehood of claim 1 in which the hood is of a length comparable to the headof a typical penis.
 3. The contraceptive hood of claim 1 in which thehood is of a length comparable to the length of the penile shaft of atypical penis.
 4. The contraceptive hood of claim 1 in which thecylindrical member is a thin member and in which the adhesive layer andthe release layer are applied directly to the outer wall of said thincylindrical member.
 5. The contraceptive hood of claim 1 in which thelayer of adhesive which extends over only that portion adjacent the openend which is engaged by the inner surface of the cylindrical member whensaid cylindrical member is in rolled up condition.
 6. The method ofapplying a contraceptive hood to the head of a penis while leaving thepenis shaft uncovered, said method comprising:unrolling onto a penis aninitially rolled up, closed end, condom type hood having, pressuresensitive adhesive and an adhesive release layer disposed between therolls, said adhesive releasing from the adhesive release layer due tothe unrolling of the cylindrical member and attaching to the innersurface of the hood as said hood is unrolled; continuing said unrollinguntil the head of the penis is covered and stopping before the hoodextends over any major portion of the penile shaft; and pressing thehood firmly against and around the penis to cause the hood to adheresecurely to the area adjacent the head of the penis.